When Good Guys Go Bad

Summary: This essay argues the fact that in order for a character in a story to destroy evil, he himself must become evil. in this case, the character is Hamlet in William Shakespeare's "Hamlet"

In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet portrays both the main character as well as the hero of the story. Throughout the history of literature, movies, and epics, there have been parts where the hero or main character of that story is determined to destroy an evil character. One may think how a hero might do so. One option is to completely destroy the evil in that character or the character himself. Another is to carefully plan the action and as that hero is planning and waiting for the right moment, he himself becomes evil as he observes the evil in the other character. The evil, in a way, is like a virus. It can be in one person and after awhile infect or jump to another person, and it keeps doing this forever until the holder of evil dies without meeting another weak person who cannot avoid the...